Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Shadow Home Secretary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 29 November 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Nick Thomas-Symonds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 20 January 2011 – 12 September 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader |
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Preceded by | Ed Balls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Andy Burnham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 19 October 2016 – 1 December 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Tim Loughton (acting) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Tim Loughton (acting) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Gordon Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | James Purnell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Iain Duncan Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 24 January 2008 – 5 June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Gordon Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Andy Burnham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Liam Byrne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pontefract and Castleford (1997–2010) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Geoffrey Lofthouse | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Majority | 1,276 (2.6%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Inverness, Scotland | 20 March 1969||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
MSc) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician serving as
First elected to Parliament at the
On 13 May 2015, Cooper announced she would run to be
Early life and education
Yvette Cooper was born on 20 March 1969 in Inverness, Scotland. Her father is Tony Cooper, former General Secretary of the Prospect trade union, a former non-executive director of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and a former Chairman of the British Nuclear Industry Forum.[4] He was also a government adviser on the Energy Advisory Panel.[5] Her mother, June, was a maths teacher.[6]
She was educated at
Early career
Cooper began her career as an economic policy researcher for
At the age of 24, Cooper developed
Parliamentary career
Cooper was selected as the
Blair and Brown government: 1999–2010
In 1999, she was promoted as
At the 2001 general election, Cooper was re-elected as MP for Pontefract and Castleford with a decreased vote share of 69.7% and a decreased majority of 16,378.[13]
In 2003, she became Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regeneration in the
Cooper was again re-elected at the 2005 general election with a decreased vote share of 63.7% and a decreased majority of 15,246.[16]
After Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Cooper was invited to attend cabinet meetings as Housing Minister. Shortly after taking the job, she was required to introduce the Home Information Pack (HIPs) scheme. According to Conservative columnist Matthew Parris, Cooper conceived HIPs, but avoided direct criticism for its problems because of her connection with Brown.[17] In July 2007, Cooper announced in the House of Commons that "unless we act now, by 2026 first-time buyers will find average house prices are ten times their salary. That could lead to real social inequality and injustice. Every part of the country needs more affordable homes – in the North and the South, in urban and rural communities".[18]
In 2008, Cooper became the first woman to serve as Chief Secretary to the Treasury where she was involved with taking Northern Rock into public ownership. As her husband, Ed Balls, was already a cabinet minister, her promotion meant that the two became the first married couple ever to sit in the cabinet together.[19]
In 2009, Cooper was appointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and took over leading on the Welfare Reform Act 2009 which included measures to extend the use of benefit sanctions to force unemployed people to seek work.[20] Many campaigners – including the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) – urged Cooper to rethink Labour's approach, arguing instead that increasing support for job seekers was vital to eradicating child poverty.[21][22]
Allegations over expenses
In May 2009, the
Miliband Shadow Cabinet: 2010–2015
Prior to the 2010 general election, Cooper's constituency of Pontefract and Castleford was abolished, and replaced with Normanton, Pontefract, and Castleford. At the election, Cooper was elected as MP for Normanton, Pontefract, and Castleford with 48.1% of the vote and a majority of 10,979.[26] After Labour's defeat at the general election, Cooper and her husband Ed Balls were both mentioned in the press as a potential leadership candidates when Gordon Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party.
Before Balls announced his candidacy, he offered to stand aside if Cooper wanted to stand, but Cooper declined for the sake of their children, stating that it would not be the right time for her.
When
Shadow Home Secretary: 2011–2015
On 20 January 2011, Cooper took the position of Shadow Home Secretary amidst a shadow cabinet reshuffle.[31] In this position, Cooper shadowed Theresa May at the Home Office. She labelled the government's vans displaying posters urging illegal immigrants to go home a "divisive gimmick" in October 2013.[32]
In February 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, although not in the top 20.[33]
In 2013, she proposed the appointment of a national commissioner for domestic and sexual violence.[34] She spoke at the Labour Party Conference in 2014 about eastern Europeans who were mistreated by employers of migrant labour.[35]
Cooper was strongly critical of the cuts to child tax credit announced by George Osborne in the July 2015 Budget; she authored the following statement in the New Statesman:
And remember
food banks to put a hot meal on the table, as too many families now do.[36]
2015 Labour leadership election
At the 2015 general election, Cooper was re-elected as MP for Normanton, Pontefract, and Castleford with an increased vote share of 54.9% and an increased majority of 15,428.[37][38] After the election and Ed Miliband's resignation, she was nominated as one of four candidates for the Labour leadership. Cooper was nominated by 59 MPs, 12 MEPs, 109 CLPs, two affiliated trade unions and one socialist society.[39][40][41] The Guardian newspaper endorsed Cooper as the "best placed" to offer a strong vision and unite the party while the New Statesman's endorsement praised her experience.[42][43] Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly endorsed Cooper as his first choice for leader, as did former Home Secretary Alan Johnson.[44][45]
During the campaign, Cooper supported reintroducing the 50p
Backbencher: 2015–2021
Following the 2015 Labour Party leadership election, Cooper returned to the back benches, after nearly 17 years on the front bench.
She supported Owen Smith against Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 leadership election.[51]
After a vote of MPs on 19 October 2016, Cooper was elected chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, gaining more votes than fellow candidates, Caroline Flint, Chuka Umunna and Paul Flynn.[3] As chair, Cooper launched a national inquiry into public views on immigration[52] and, after an emergency inquiry into the Dubs scheme for child refugees, criticised the government's decision to end the programme in February 2017.[53][54]
At the snap 2017 general election, Cooper was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 59.5% and a decreased majority of 14,499.[55][56]
Cooper was critical of the May government's infrastructure plans' focus on big cities, and was formerly the chair of Labour Towns, a group of Labour MPs, councillors and mayors of towns seeking to promote investment in them – publishing a town manifesto in 2019.[57][58]
She is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.[59]
She was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 37.9% and a decreased majority of 1,276.[60]
Brexit
During the Brexit process, Cooper consistently fought against a no-deal Brexit, tabling one of the main amendments in January 2019; others to table amendments were Caroline Spelman, Graham Brady, Rachel Reeves, Dominic Grieve and Ian Blackford.[61]
In April, Cooper tabled a
Starmer Shadow Cabinet: 2021–present
Cooper was reappointed as Shadow Home Secretary on 29 November 2021 by Keir Starmer, replacing Nick Thomas-Symonds in a shadow cabinet reshuffle.
Following allegations that Home Secretary Suella Braverman had breached the ministerial code by sending secure information with her private email, Cooper asked for possible security implications to be investigated. She wrote to Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case "I am urging you and the Home Office to now urgently undertake such an investigation [into possible security breaches] as the public has a right to know that there are proper secure information procedures in place to cover the person who has been given charge of our national security."[63][64] Cooper also said that it raised doubts about the Prime Minister's judgement. She also added that people need to be able to trust the Home Secretary with highly sensitive information and national security.[65] Cooper says that the incumbent Conservative Party lack ethics and adequate standards.[66]
Personal life
Cooper married Ed Balls on 10 January 1998[67] in Eastbourne. Her husband was Economic Secretary to the Treasury in the Tony Blair government and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families under Gordon Brown, then in opposition was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and a candidate in the 2010 Labour Party leadership election. The couple have two daughters and one son.[68]
Cooper has published two books, entitled She Speaks: The Power of Women's Voices and She Speaks: Women's Speeches That Changed the World, from Pankhurst to Greta, released in November 2019 and October 2020 respectively.[69][70]
References
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External links
- Yvette for Labour official site
- Yvette Cooper Archived 21 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine official site
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Appearances on C-SPAN